NBA Draft Chat

UPDATE: The Lakers took Joe Crawford, a guard out of Kentucky. He’s 6-4, 210 and described as a bit of a tweener. Last season was his senior year at Kentucky and he took 32% of the team’s shots when he was on the floor, still shooting a nice 54% eFG% and a more average 36% from three. Apparently he had a pretty good pre-draft camp in Orlando. Here is what caught my eye from the Draft Express profile: “Crawford’s spot-up jump shot has very good form, boasting a fairly deliberate release (but not in a bad way), with near textbook mechanics and a high and consistent release point.” Now, they go on to dismiss his pull up jumper, but you can at least see what the Lakers front office is thinking — can this guy become a spot up shooter in the triangle? Maybe, not a bad risk at 58.

Like we said before, he will likely be fighting Coby Karl and some free agents on the Summer League team for a roster spot.

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It’s going to be interesting tonight, it looks like a lot of movement on the board. This thread is up to talk draft as the picks go on, and any moves made today (sounds like the Clippers really want Bayless, and he’d be a good fit for them).

While we’re talking, there will be plenty of really interesting stuff on the Web today. Maybe the person most on top of it is Matt at Blog-a-Bull, and I would be too if my team were about to pick Rose. If you are looking for updates on trade rumors throughout the day, that is a great place to start.

If you want more analysis, friend of the site Kevin Pelton has an interesting statistical breakdown of the incoming class, including a discussion of why it is harder to predict point guards than any other position.

In part, this might be because rookie performance tends to be less meaningful for point guards. If you followed the 2005 link, you saw I was way down on Deron Williams. Lo and behold, Williams did struggle as a rookie, but that hasn’t stopped him from developing into an elite player. In the case of a player like Rose, a relatively low rating is not exactly encouraging, but not entirely damning either.

Another place worth checking out tonight is Deadspin, where Bethlehem Shoals (the blogger we all wish we were) will be live blogging the draft, and getting a little weepy about Will.

If the Lakers are going to do anything, it likely will be some sort of cash deal to move up and get one of Seattle or Portland’s many second round picks. Apparently, the Lakers have their eye on George Hill. Pelton had an interesting comment about him as well:

Hill is an interesting second-round prospect. The numbers suggest he should be able to hold his own at the point while providing offense off the bench. If Eddie House can play point guard in the NBA Finals, there’s a spot in the league for Hill.

We’ll be posting updates if the Lakers make any moves today, and we’ll be talking about who is hiding out in the green room as he plummets down the draft board.